Alumni News

By Jane EriksonCatherine Cosentino, MD, has been passionate about the practice of medicine since before she entered medical school. Now she is equally passionate about a barrier that keeps some students from pursuing their dreams of becoming physicians.When Cosentino graduated from the UA College of Medicine in 1983, the average medical student...

By Jane EriksonVanessa Jensen, MD, will never forget her first surgical trauma case – and how the experience left her feeling conflicted.Jensen was in her third year as a medical student. The patient was a UA student, the victim of a hit-and-run, bleeding out from a ruptured spleen.“I never felt so exhilarated and challenged at the same time,”...

By Jane Erikson
When Anna R. Graham interviewed at the UA College of Medicine in 1970, she was asked about her plans for having children.
She answered the question - which today would lead the interviewer straight to human resources – and took her place with the Class of 1974. She stayed for her residency, then joined the faculty. Year after year...

Greetings, College of Medicine Alumni!I’m writing to you in my new dual role as Interim Dean of the UA College of Medicine – Tucson, and UA Senior Vice President for Health Sciences.As you may know, Steve Goldschmid, MD, who served as Dean of the College of Medicine for more than five years, began a new role on March 3 as Associate Vice President...

From the Class of 1999Kevin McGarey, MD, Class of 1999, passed away May 11, 2013 after an 11-month battle with pancreatic cancer. We are still reeling from the loss of a truly vibrant individual and friend whose light helped make the world a little brighter for those who had the pleasure of knowing him. He was determined to live life to the...

By Jane EriksonJosh Makhoul: Ob-GynStanding on the stage of DuVal Auditorium, in front of a standing-room-only crowd of fellow medical students, family members and friends, Josh Makhoul read the slip of paper that told him where he will spend his next four years.“I’m going to be delivering babies at the same hospital where I was born – Lehigh...

The Alumni Affairs board has identified a critically important strategic priority: helping medical students survive the financial challenges they face now, and will face later, after they have completed training.Median medical student debt is now $175,000, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. Thirty years ago, student debt...

By Jane Erikson
Last October we introduced you to four students of the Class of 2017. We asked them recently about the experiences – expected and unexpected – they have had during their first six months of medical school.
Hannes Prescher started med school thinking he would become an orthopaedic surgeon. But shadowing ER doctors during winter...

By Jane Erikson
Mindy Fain, MD, is a widely recognized leader in gerontology, whose many UA College of Medicine titles attest to her achievements in advancing health care for older adults.
She is professor of medicine and chief of the division of geriatrics, general internal medicine and palliative medicine in the UA Department of Medicine. She...

By Jane Erikson
For 10 years, Stephen was homeless. In May, he found shelter and three meals a day – when he was hospitalized for several weeks with a severe cellulitis that required surgery on his left leg. He was discharged in a wheelchair, still in need of wound care and rehab, which he had no way to get on his own.
Four months later, his leg...

By Jane Erikson
It’s Monday morning. Pediatrician John Tannous, MD, has just made the grueling 35-minute bike ride from his house to his clinic in Kunming, China.
It doesn’t take long for his first patients to arrive.
Two baby girls, both with Down’s syndrome, both with heart disease, both very ill. Both had been abandoned and are now in foster...

It’s hard to believe it’s been four months since the August 9 White Coat Ceremony, where we welcomed the 115 women and men who make up the Class of 2017. But time flies when you’re having fun – and working hard, as all of us have been this year.
Like every year, 2013 has brought its share of challenges and rewards. Financial issues have shaped our...

Two fourth-year students at The UA College of Medicine – Phoenix received one of about 6,000 Google Glass units distributed earlier this year. Jeff Tully and Christian Dameff were awarded the new high-tech glasses after entering a contest they found via social media.
“Google Glass is a wearable computer in the shape of eyeglasses,” Dameff...

By Jane Erikson
For Cynthia Holdren, MD, the 2013 College of Medicine Reunion was about coming home.
“I came here hoping to see some old friends, and to see my best friend, Marilyn Medweid,” said Holdren, an anesthesiologist practicing in Seattle.
Holdren and Medweid, a Tucson gynecologist, graduated with the Class of 1978. Holdren’s favorite med...

By Jane Erikson
Students, faculty, family and friends poured into DuVal Auditorium the morning of Nov. 25 to celebrate the life of an extraordinary man: John “Jack” Nolte, PhD, professor emeritus of cellular and molecular medicine, who died October 22.
A faculty member at the UA College of Medicine since 1990, Nolte received 15 top teaching awards...

Like every year, 2013 has brought its share of challenges and rewards. Financial issues have shaped our experience this year, but so have the many opportunities we’ve had to witness and nurture our students’ excitement and commitment to becoming outstanding physicians. We’ve also been able to celebrate the discoveries made by our researchers who...

By Jane Erikson
Janet Vargas will never forget that day in 1995 when she watched her oldest son open the letter from the UA College of Medicine. “I’ve been accepted!” Bert Vargas told his mother.
Nor will she forget her son’s words to her, once they got through with the hugs and congratulations: “Well, Mom, when are you going to go to medical...

By Jane Erikson
Norman Koelling began teaching anatomy to UA College of Medicine students in 1969. He was here for the college’s first graduation ceremony in 1971 – and every graduation since. And although he retired in 2002, he is still teaching, now as a volunteer.
“I never get tired of working with the students,” Koelling says. “I share that...

By Jane Erikson
In 1979, as Jim Scott was nearing the end of his service as a Peace Corps volunteer in Sierra Leone, he made his next big decision. He wasn’t absolutely sure, but he thought he wanted to be a doctor. So one evening, he sat in his hut and wrote his application to medical school on an old-fashioned manual typewriter.
A 1977 Notre...

Susan Dalby – Class of 1986I closed my solo pediatrics practice in 2008, after many rewarding years. Eskild and I live in Portal, AZ, in the winter and in Wells Gray Park, British Columbia for the rest of the year. We do a lot of traveling, camping, kayaking, and playing with grandson Jasper. Classmates may remember our daughters Maya and Anya...